Graeser Park History: 1940-2021
Robbinsdale’s Rock Garden Roadside Parking Area was the last and largest of seven parks built in 1939-1940 along Highway 100. It was renamed Graeser Park in honor of Minnesota highway engineer and Robbinsdale resident Carl F. Graeser.
Mr. Graeser laid out plans for the construction of Highway 100 and personally supervised as many as four thousand men employed to build the highway under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal federal relief program. The new thoroughfare on the west side of Minneapolis, stretching from Edina to Robbinsdale, became known as “Lilac Way,” with thousands of lilacs of all varieties planted along the highway.
All seven parks were designed by noted landscape architect Arthur R. Nichols in the National Park Service Rustic Style. Now, Graeser Park is one of only two original Lilac Way parks that still exist.
Graeser Park was popular with travelers and locals from the 1940s on, but it eventually fell into disrepair. In 1996, when the park was used as staging for Highway 100 expansion, the stone picnic tables were removed.
The park became forlorn and forgotten until 2008, when volunteers from the Robbinsdale Lions began cleaning up the pathways, benches, and overgrowth in the rock garden. In 2019, their work drew the attention of staff in the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Historic Roadside Property Program.
Now, MnDOT’s project to restore Graeser Park— using National Park Service Historic Preservation Standards—begins in 2021, and this 80-year-old landmark is ready to come back to life.
What’s so special about Graeser Park?
- Its iconic beehive-shaped fireplace is the only one in its original location in the entire US. This national treasure must be repaired before it’s too late to save it.
- Among Minnesota’s 100+ historic wayside rests, only Graeser Park has a rock garden.
- The rustic stone picnic tables were removed in the 1996, but can be rebuilt from salvaged pieces in storage in Robbinsdale.
- The original flagstone-paved overlook platform, rock walls, and many pines planted in the 1930s are still standing and can be preserved for future generations.
Who is working to save Graeser Park?
A coalition of public and private partners has joined together to see that the park is restored and preserved.
- Minnesota Department of Transportation
- Northern Bedrock Preservation Corps
- City of Robbinsdale
- Robbinsdale Historical Society
- Robbinsdale Lions
- Restore Lilac Way
- Graeser Park Restoration & Preservation (GPRP, a nonprofit organized to increase awareness and receive donations to help bring the park to a place of local, statewide, and national significance)